The platform formerly known as Twitter is living up to its rebranded name - X is reportedly working on allowing users to create NSFW (not safe for work) adult communities dedicated to X-rated material. According to app researchers who reverse engineered X’s code, the company is testing an expansion of its Communities feature to include adult content groups.
App analyst Daniel Buchuk of Watchful shared exclusive screenshots with TechCrunch showing mock-ups of how these NSFW Communities could appear in X’s app. The images depict a toggle to mark communities as “adult” with content warnings. Another independent researcher, Nima Owji, also spotted the unreleased adult communities in development last month.
If launched, this move would embrace X’s large following of adult creators and sex workers who have long used the platform as one of the few social media havens allowing explicit material promotion. With dedicated NSFW group spaces, X could be opening up new avenues for these creators to directly engage paid fan communities.
The Struggle with NSFW Spam
The development of X’s adult communities comes as the platform has been plagued by a recent surge in NSFW spam and non-consensual explicit content since Elon Musk’s takeover. While X has more permissive policies around adult material compared to mainstream sites, it still prohibits illegally shared pornography and sexual content involving minors.
However, X’s latest transparency report revealed the company suspended a staggering 12.4 million accounts in 2023 for violations related to child sexual exploitation - a over 5x increase from the 2.3 million accounts removed in 2022 under previous leadership. The prevalence of this abusive NSFW spam has been a persistent issue Musk’s X has struggled to rein in.
Embracing the Sex Worker Economy
For many adult creators and sex workers, X (and previously Twitter) has served as an essential promotional platform and communication channel with fans willing to pay for their content on sites like OnlyFans. As Dr. Olivia Snow, a dominatrix and researcher noted, “Twitter really is the primary advertising venue at this point for sex workers.”
By allowing dedicated NSFW community spaces, X could be aiming to cater directly to this creator economy that has long utilized the platform out of necessity due to its more lenient policies around adult material compared to restrictive sites like Facebook and Instagram.
However, X appears to still be holding firm on its stance against monetizing explicit on-platform content. Previous prototypes uncovered by reverse engineers depicted OnlyFans-style pay-per-view video and paywall capabilities - suggesting Musk may have at one point considered tapping into X’s adult audience as a revenue stream for the $44 billion acquisition.
But those plans seemed to fizzle out amid concerns around adequately detecting non-consensual and illegal exploitative content - an issue Twitter had wrestled with years before and prompted the shelving of its own OnlyFans competitor.
Balancing Security and Monetization
So while X’s NSFW community tests don’t directly point to monetization plans, they do signal X’s willingness to further accommodate its existing adult creator base. But doing so opens up inevitable moderation challenges around illegal and abusive content slipping through - something the company has already struggled with.
In the announcement about its latest transparency report, X stated it is utilizing a variety of measures to combat child exploitation, including deepfake classifiers, automation, and hiring more human moderators. But safely facilitating NSFW communities at scale will require robust verification, consent mechanisms, and careful curation.
There have been glimmers of movement towards better supporting X’s adult workforce, such as updates in 2022 to allow sex workers to comply with regulatory requirements around declaring professions. But monetizing that ecosystem directly is a controversial proposal that would likely face intense scrutiny.
As it stands, X’s NSFW community tests seem focused on improving the experience for adult creators operating within the platform’s existing boundaries. But whether the company can successfully navigate facilitating these spaces without a torrent of the abusive illegal content that has plagued it remains to be seen.
The topic of sex work and online adult businesses is a complex issue straddling moral quandaries and legal grey areas. If X leans further into the space, it will need to tread extremely carefully to avoid exacerbating issues like non-consensual exploitation - while still allowing a diverse range of adult creators to engage their paid fan communities.